Write Wing
Write Wing Day One
By Emma Rugg and Matthew Knott
Prize performance
NSW Premier Morris Iemma was conspicuous by his absence at the Premier’s Literary Awards on Monday night. While his predecessor Bob Carr never missed a chance to mingle with literary bigwigs, the state’s besieged leader preferred a trip to China and Hong Kong to talk trade.
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Minister for Planning and the Arts, Frank Sartor |
News of Iemma’s snub created an icy mood, but things went sub-zero when his replacement was announced: Minister for Planning and the Arts, Frank Sartor.
The MP was greeted with grudging applause, but he discovered any grudge can be fixed with a bit of cash. He said total prize money would rise from $167,00 to $320,000 and suddenly love was in the air. “None of this money came from developers I can assure you,” he said, to waves of laughter.
Doing a top job
Holding court from his wheelchair, Gough Whitlam told Write Wing he has been impressed by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s first six months in power. But he is bemused by the lack of criticism of Kevin Rudd’s Middle East policy.
“I don’t agree with him celebrating the 60th anniversary of Israel without mentioning the Arabs,” he said. “I thought that was very poor.”
Bob Ellis, former speechwriter for Paul Keating and Bob Carr, was kinder to Rudd. “I didn’t expect him to be so deft and capable,” he said.
“His sorry speech was better than the Gettysburg address. Rudd writes all his own speeches, which sometimes he shouldn’t, but he’s a vast improvement on Howard, who never failed to bore you on almost any subject after five to six seconds.” Ouch!
Title fight
Always eager for a good read, Write Wing canvassed the nation’s literary heavyweights for their suggestions. Both Bob Ellis and Gough Whitlam kept it in the Labor family, nominating Bob Carr’s My Reading Life.
Schindler’s Ark author Thomas Keneally had just finished Cormac McCarthy’s The Orchid Keeper, while Michelle De Kretser, winner of the Book of the Year, offered Joan London’s The Good Parents.
Not happy Jane
When retiree Jane Burns heard about some of the literary superstars at the Festival this year, she decided to book tickets for four paid events. But she was so “bamboozled” by the official guide, published in the Sydney Morning Herald, that she had to keep putting it down to avoid a headache.
By the time she finally deciphered the 23-page guide – where event details are buried after seven pages of author blurbs – the events of interest had sold out. Obviously still in a dark mood, she headed to Richard Walsh’s free talk on Great Australian Eulogies instead.
On the right track
Scottish science fiction author Iain M Banks (right) – who, when not writing about aliens, uses the alias Iain Banks – has sold his 100,000 pound (AUD$204,000) Porche collection to travel exclusively by train. Enviro-guilt free. So there’s no way he’d expend the amount of carbon required to fly from the UK to the Festival.
Despite the Festival’s promise to offset the carbon of all authors’ flights, in a display of fundamentalist leftist pride he has stuck to his guns. Or tofu skewers more likely.
And with the promise of instant video connection to Australian buyers via LongPen, the green wash was a fairly convenient truth. Until technological hitches saw all LongPen events scrapped. So shall we lock in a free-range shrimp on the barbie for 2009, Mr Banks?
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